Presidential Pilot Trial Raises Questions of CentAm Elite Corruption

The trial of a former Guatemalan congressman and an ex-presidential pilot accused of drug trafficking has got underway in Honduras, in a case featuring a tangled web of Central American elites and criminals.

The trial involves former congressional representative Juan Luis Gonzalez and pilot Haward Gilberto Suhr Castellanos, both from Guatemala, who were arrested in San Pedro Sula, Honduras on December 6, 2012, and, accused along with 10 others, of drug trafficking, money laundering and document falsification, reported elPeriodico.

During the raids leading up to the arrests, which also included a second pilot and a former Honduran official, authorities found 12 vehicles with Guatemalan license plates and hidden compartments allegedly used for drug storage, and 10.5 tons of methamphetamine precursor pseudoephedrine. In total, 83 suspects were accused of involvement in a drug trafficking network composed of Guatemalans, Hondurans, Mexicans and Colombians.

Suhr is a co-founder of Aeroservicios Centroamericanos, S.A. (Aerocentro) and also worked for the Guatemalan government’s Civil Aeronautics agency until September 2012. Gonzalez was a former soldier, helicopter pilot and representative for the Alta Verapaz province, with suspected drug trafficking connections in the area.

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Aerocentro allegedly forms part of a network of companies involved in money laundering and drug transport, and has also transported high level officials, including former Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, former Guatemalan President Alfonso Portillo, and the current president and vice president, Otto Perez Molina and Roxana Baldetti, during their 2011 presidential campaign.

As well as the airline’s shady operations, the case involves a complex web of officials, and political motives for the investigation should not be discounted. It is also interesting that Lozano, who has significant government contacts, has not yet been caught up in the case.

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